When Channel Nine’s Eddie McGyuire decided to take on Ice TV he knew exactly what he was doing. He was trying to destroy the fledgling electronic program guide business by commencing legal action to prevent Ice TV from producing an EPG Guide for Australian consumers. But the move has backfired.
This is despite the fact that TV stations all over the world are partnering with EPG producers. But the move has backfired. As Jessica Rowe’s ratings are soaring after he alledgedly “boned” her with a plan to dump her from the morning TV show viewers have flocked to see what all the fuss is about and Eddie McGuire’s antics have also boosted the fortunes of Ice TV.
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The drama for IceTV unfolded When the Company announced its intention to list on the ASX, Nine started court proceedings against them, alleging copyright breach. Intending investors lost confidence, IceTV was forced to cancel its float and refund cheques to investors.
However Eddie’s aggressive play included a surprise lifeline. The publicity surrounding Nine Networks’ attempts to shut down IceTV has aroused interest from some major media companies curious to know why IceTV has attracted Nine’s attention.
The controversy and resulting public support also resulted in record sales for IceTV. Subscriber sign-ups for June increased 200% over May.
IceTV’s CEO Duncan Ross said ” We are delighted with this turn of events. “We nearly became another casualty of Nine’s ‘sue now, think later’ business ethics. It’s no secret that scuttling our float has cost us a lot” he said. “But being sued by the Packer empire, plus the recent boom in sales looks like being a winning formula for a healthy investment or lucrative acquisition from the big end of town.”
The court case is scheduled for October 2006 and if IceTV win consumers will be able to access all TV programming information including Foxtel from one remote.
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